Greg McVerry

In every conversation you hear calls to get back to school, to "Get back to Normal."

I don't like the old normal. Normal did not work for the majority of our children. Especially black, brown, and indigenous kids.

I want to serve up something new.

So to illustrate my subjectives for this class I decided to learn a bit more whittling and carve up a spoon.

I believe we must mix up perspectives and I am hoping to accomplish two projects in this class:

• A digital handbook on how to blog using WordPress and the SemPress theme
• An autoethnography on me learning to build a poetry page as I taught a LEP Tech class and participated in the IndieWeb movement

Eat Your Own Cooking

As I try to stir up good trouble in my career I use a lens of digitally engaged scholarship. Borrowing from community engage scholarship I can not separate my creative activity, teaching, and service. These three, I believe, need to work together in service to the greater good in partnership with communities and learners

For the last few years much of these efforts for me have revolved around the IndieWeb movement. I help an amazing group of web activists. We started the Elm City Webmakers, run a free tech camp for teens in New Haven, and organize events all over the world. Developers release amazing technology that re-envisions the web as our social network.

Recently the IndieWeb community, in continuous reflections on diversity and inclusiuon metaphors, adopted a metaphor of "eat your own cooklng" to replace the metaphor of "self dog-fooding." This just means using the stuff you build and building stuff to use rather than just talking about building.

So I thought the spoon made a good physical metaphor for my #edu522 subjectives. I always thought of my pocket knife as my original 3-d printer. It just works backwards much like an autoethnography. I also want to stir up good trouble to start recentering the web in marginalized communities.

Cook With Others

Recently at the IndieWeb West conference I facilitated a session on Cooking For Others. I am glad we moved on from the idea of self-dogfooding, but I wanted to try and get at something else. It's hard for me to describe, still working out the idea but for many they come to movements and communities, out of a sense of duty to others.

The idea of only using what you build made Silicon Valley billionaires. The model works. I just wonder if it works for everyone. Maybe it is a bit of mindset and not just metaphors we need to shift.

At the same time I will never ask my students to do something I will not do. So I am asking you to learn something new and be open about the process. Therefore I needed to the same.

I guess me learnining how to whittle is my attempt. I carved a missing chess pawn when we went camping with neighbors and I recently found myself desperate for an evening distraction. I work around the clock M-R and my partner works at a restautant W-S.

Basically stare at a screen all day. Have binged everything bingebale on all the networks (well still need to finsih the 100) and haven't done any kidless adulting, or any social gatherings since March.

Why not just stare at a fire and whittle wood? Sharing my carving will be the dish I bring to our table. I can not wait to see what tales you serve up.

Make a Podcast

Here is my 2toPonder series and my son's podcast series. Want to make a podcast, just record on your phone or laptop and upload the file somewhere.

Use Paper

In my literacy mantra I made a flip book like explanation. I just stacked my phone camera on a bunch of books.

I also do little clip art talks with paper cut outs

You can do "In Plain English" style videos. I always pre write a script. I like to divide it into three columns, the text, me, and ay actions.

Use a Voice Animation Program

Use a Sock Puppet App

This is one of many sock puppets apps on iOS devices that kids love.

Use a text to Speech App

These are fun as all you have to do is type and it gets converted to text. So many uses in the langauge arts classroom.

I made a video about RSS Planets recently for #clmooc.

Do a Pecha Flickr

You can make a timeline

TimelineJS is a great tool. You turn a Google spreasheet into an interactive multimedia task.

Use Movie Making Apps

So many choices for movie making apps. Yoiu can make book trailers in iOS, short clips in Animoto or try WeVideo on Chrome.

Use an Animation App

There are so many choices on different platforms for animation apps. The key is to remember to enhance your pedagogical goal. What is the animation giving you that just talking to the camera wouldn't? Time is precious.

Use Poetry

More poetry ideas

Make a Website

From a fake Facebook page, movie posters, poems to a Star Wars crawler. You can use ELA content to master the basics of how we read, write, and participate online.

Check out this collection of activities